Holden was taken aback, a sense of disquiet gnawing at him. He nervously asked, his lips tightly pursed, "Why not?"

"Because Holden is nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing!" Ariana asserted with unwavering conviction.

Holden retorted, “Then I'm certainly not Holden." He made a quick decision and added, "I'm just your online friend."

Even though Ariana continued to ignore him, Holden gently tugged at her sleeve and pressed on, asking, "Why did you block me?"

Ariana turned to fix him with a gaze that could freeze fire and replied, “Because you're Holden!"

Hearing this, Holden's heart sank. He had a vague inkling that Ariana could have uncovered something significant; otherwise, she wouldn't have abruptly cut ties with him online.

Holden wanted to delve deeper into the matter but decided to begin with a direct question, “How did you know that?"

"I don't possess that knowledge," Ariana mumbled in a drowsy manner, evading a straightforward response. Despite Holden's several attempts to extract more information, Ariana remained evasive. Eventually, she simply ignored him and found a comfortable haven in her seat, drifting off into slumber.

Faced with her somnolent state, Holden had no choice but to secure her in her seat with a seatbelt and take her home.

Reaching the villa's entrance, Holden propped Ariana up with one hand and pressed the doorbell with the other. However, after two futile attempts, he became puzzled. Was Melon not home?

He pressed the doorbell twice more, confirming that there was no response from inside. Turning to Ariana, he questioned, “Is there no one at home? What's the door code?"

Ariana mumbled a sequence of numbers. Holden was on the verge of entering the code as per her instructions when he suddenly froze, realizing that the numbers she gave him corresponded to his birthdate.

Was it a mere coincidence? Or..

Holden cast a skeptical glance at the drowsy Ariana in his arms and couldn't help but wonder if she was playing a cunning prank on him while under the influence.

After a moment of hesitation, he decided to enter the birthdate as the door code.

To his astonishment, the door swung open without hesitation!

As the door creaked open, Holden stood there, his disbelief freezing him in his tracks.

Whether it was fate playing its fickle hand or some other cosmic twist, Holden didn't have the luxury of pondering it. Ariana, in a sudden burst of energy, attempted to shove him aside. Before he could react, she had already pushed him away, running to the nearby flowerbed, where she started a bout of uncontrollable retching.

Holden followed, feeling utterly helpless, and got out a handful of tissues for her. To his astonishment, Ariana pushed him away once more, extending her arms in a wide embrace of a nearby pillar, serenading it with a heartfelt, albeit slightly off-key, tune. She adamantly refused to step inside.

With no other recourse at his disposal, Holden tried to coax her, doing his utmost to lead her away from the pillar after a prolonged tussle. Yet, even after he had successfully coaxed her down, Ariana remained obstinate, firmly declining to cross the door into the house.